Wine and Bleak Festival

The Festival of Wine and Bleak (Festival vina i ukljeve) is Virpazar's winter fair on the shore of Lake Skadar, in the heart of the Crmnica wine country. The 2026 edition — the 28th — was held over the weekend of 28 February and 1 March.

Virpazar earns its reputation as one of Montenegro's most atmospheric villages: a huddle of stone houses and little bridges where the Crmnica valley meets Lake Skadar, surrounded by the vineyards that give the region its name. In winter the lake turns misty and still, the tour boats stop running, and the village returns to its own rhythm — which is exactly when the festival arrives.

Winegrowers set up their stands through the lakeside village, pouring Crmnica vranac, the region's signature red. Visitors move from stand to stand, glass in hand, talking to the families who made what they are tasting. The bleak (ukljeva), the small lake fish that gave the festival its name, is now served largely symbolically — a deliberate choice made to protect the native species — while folklore performances and live music carry the rest of the programme.

The setting does much of the work: a small village between the vineyards and the lake, in winter, when Lake Skadar is quiet and a glass of vranac is the warmest thing in Crmnica. It is one of the most atmospheric small festivals in Montenegro's calendar — closer to a village fair than a tourist production, and better for it.

Twenty-eight editions on, the formula has not needed changing: local wine, lake tradition, music and a weekend when the region shows itself to visitors on its own terms. For anyone curious about Montenegrin wine, there is no easier introduction than tasting vranac a few steps from the vineyards it comes from.

The festival takes place at the turn of February and March in Virpazar, on Lake Skadar; the 2026 edition was held over the weekend of 28 February and 1 March. Entry is free, and the compact village puts everything within a few minutes' walk.